Inkslingers September 2019

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27 September 2019

TU collaborates with JPT, Sunway and Monash for mental health By: ANG YEE TIAN SUBANG JAYA: One in every three adults in Malaysia is suffering from mental health issues and it needs to be treated well by both government and the community, said Dr. Lee Boon Chye, Deputy Minister of Health Malaysia.

Since September is suicide prevention month, The Sunway Counselling and Wellness unit organised ‘Return to Light (RTL): Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Campaign’ on 11 and 12 September, joining with Department of Higher Education, Sunway University, Monash University Malaysia and Taylor’s University.

The two-day event consisted of workshops that aimed to provide peer support and develop skills, and action learning by experienced practitioners and facilitators along with an art exhibition and mental health info booth.

This year, the theme of the RTL campaign was self-care, which reminded everyone to make self-care a priority and refers to activities that individuals undertake in promoting their own health.

“Self-care is a lifelong habit and culture and it can be fulfilled through good physical health

NEWS

Professionals are conducting Q&A session at Youth Mental Health Forum. and mental health such as getting support from relationships and taking time to practice relaxation techniques,” said Dr Indrani Thiruselvam, Senior Lecturer (Psychology) of Taylor’s University.

The forum on 11 September in Sunway University had seven forum panellists: Dr. Lee Boon Chye, Deputy Minister of Health Malaysia; Michelle Ng Mei Sze, Selangor State Assembly woman for Subang Jaya; Dr Elizabeth Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Sunway Education Group; Dr Indrani Thiruselvam, Lim Su Lin, Analyst of Penang Institute; Mazni Noah, Sunway Alumni

NEWS

and Former President of Sunway Peer Counselling Volunteers and Moderator Assoc. Prof. Dr Alvin Ng Lain Oon, Head - Department of Psychology.

This forum was largely made up of undergraduate university students.

The panelists covered various areas of youth mental health topic such as establishing mental health policy in higher learning institution, strengthening the collaboration of mental health intervention program, and discussing recommendations to promote the availability and accessibility of quality mental

NEWS

health care.

“According to the research on help-seeking behaviour among adolescents, it is revealed that 80 per cent of adolescents tend to get help from friends, followed by parents (70%), siblings (40%), Internet (36%) and the rest from other relatives,” said Lim Su Lin, Analyst of Penang Institute.

“Being open to mental health can break down any stigma surrounding it.

“Supporting what another person expresses to you without criticizing and without judging makes a big difference.

“As the saying goes; prevention is better than cure, we need to build mental fitness to help us cope with life’s challenges in advance of them happening,” said Dr Indrani.

Dr Lee encouraged institutes to include mental health education in their basic curriculum to help young adults learn how to improve their own mental wellbeing, and reduce the stigma around mental health. *If you, or someone you know, are having suicidal thoughts, help is available, please call the Counselling and Psychological Services Centre at 03-5629 5022, or email counsellor.lsc@taylors. edu.my.

FEATURES

TU launches new attendance marking systme

Malaysia’s first Bachelor of Performing Arts Conservatory Degree at TU

TLDC creating a loving community with free dance training

A badminton player’s life

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SEPTEMBER

2 NEWS

New attendance marking system launched By: ANG YEE TIAN

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Slingers Team Editor Ong Yi Lyn Deputy Editor Saarah Aniz Layout Editor Angeline Loh Online Editor Nizar Faizul Writers Ahmed Rasheed Ang Yee Tian Daden Tan Junhan Laviania Koh Oi Jia Wen Taylor Woo Teh Sue Ee Vijay Guna Zahra Alhadad Visit us at https://inkslingers2019tay. wixsite.com/inkslingers2019 Write to us at theinkslingers@taylors.edu.my

SUBANG JAYA: Taylor’s University launched a new attendance marking system called the ‘Classroom Attendance Marking System (CAMS)’ on 26 August, which was designed to make attendance marking simple and convenient for students and lecturers.

Students can mark their attendance by entering the passcode provided via the Taylor’s Mobile app.

Attendance records are automatically updated in the student’s profile which is linked to the portal, thereby simplifying attendance management and allowing lecturers to focus on teaching.

“Instead of previous calling name or signing the list, CAMS is really effective and convenient for the lecturer as it helps to save a lot of time and leads to better quality of teaching, especially for the big classes,” said Dr Kannan Loganathan, School of Media and Communication lecturer.

“It takes around 10 minutes for lecturer to mark attendance by calling name during a usual large number of students present in the lecture hall,” said Tan Shi Ting,

A student takes attendance via the Taylor’s Mobile app, which was recently launched on 26 August.

Taylor’s University student.

“I appreciate the introduction of CAMS and I am proud of Taylor’s improvement of technology,” said Tan. Some students though are abusing the system by asking friends to send the passcode or asking friends to help log into their account.

“It is a concern for the campus management, but the team is producing effective solutions,” said Dr Kannan.

It is worth noting that student’s mobile phones must connect to Taylor’s wi-fi to take attendance through Taylor’s Mobile app.

If students fail to access Taylor’s Mobile app due to late fees school payment or poor wi-fi connection,

the lecturer will have to update students’ attendance manually.

“However, the student’s performance or their success is greatly linked with their attitudes.

“Students are here to learn and high rates of attendance greatly increases the probability of high grades,” said Dr Kannan.

Attendance correlates with student participation, engagement and responsibility.

In an effort to become successful and prosperous working adults post-college graduation, these qualities of structured accountability and scheduling will easily translate over to workplace and daily life if students regularly attend class.

Tech giants teamed up with Taylor’s Esports Club By: AHMED RASHEED SUBANG JAYA: Technology giants ASUS Republic of Gamers (Asus ROG) and popular Sunway gaming lounge GamesFusion have been named the official sponsors of Taylor’s Esports Club.

Asus ROG has previously provided support for the gaming community at the Lakeside campus, lending their products and specifically their phones to our Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB) team when they compete for tournaments.

GamesFusion sponsors by providing consoles.

Club President Lim Jesson noted that the support rendered by the tech giant was a huge boost for the morale of the club which is currently competing in a number of competitions, and said the new sponsorship paves the path for greater collaboration with Asus ROG. Under the sponsorship, the club’s teams competing in the Gameplan’s Intercollege Cyber Challenge (ICC) will spot the

The entrance of the Trading Room facility, fully equipped with it’s 16 Bloomberg terminals. sponsor’s logos on their new club uniforms.

As of 27 September, the Taylor’s Esports Club currently ties at third place with TARUC IGS Esports Club on the league table.

They have played against the Academy of Esports (AOES), Sunway Esports Club, TARUC IGS Esports Club, INTI Nilai Esports Club and UCSI Esports Club, beating the latter four as they progress in the league.

The club will also use the new uniform for their other gaming competitions and events

including the GSGO Team3 match at the Monash Inter-University competition during Server DNA 4.0 and the Dota2 Esports competition currently underway.

The Taylor’s Esports club was founded in 2017 with the aim of bringing together gamers studying at the Taylor’s Lakeside campus, and create a fun and inclusive community while fostering talent among all gaming enthusiasts.

The club currently has over 500 registered members and around 100 active gamers.

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SEPTEMBER

NEWS 3

New Taylor’s Trading Room is making a positive impact By: ZAHRA ALHADAD SUBANG JAYA: Another tool recently added to help propel Taylor’s students further into their future careers saw the opening of the new Trading Room.

Located where the E-quarium room used to be on Level 1, it is equipped with 16 units of fully functional Bloomberg terminals and has seen constant use since it was opened.

Shaliza binti Alwi, lecturer and stream coordinator of Finance in the Business School, finds the trading room extremely helpful in teaching her students.

“We’re able to enhance the knowledge of the students and expose them to real life examples,” she explained.

“Without the Bloomberg facilities, when explaining to students, they would not be able to see how things actually work in actuality.”

Pulling up information is extremely easy for Shaliza’s use

The entrance of the Trading Room facility, fully equipped with it’s 16 Bloomberg terminals. in the classroom as Bloomberg provides all the past data and it saves a large amount of time from having to get the hardcopies instead.

“It helps the students a lot in their projects, assignments, research, and even FYP’s (final year projects),” she added.

Even students are seeing the

benefits of this new facility, as Banking and Finance student Li Hui notes how she is able to acquire the information she needs much faster now.

However, some note that there have been a few technical problems faced since they began using the room.

“The desktops sometimes have

problems,” Economics & Finance student, Lydia Ho explained.

“There are times when the weak internet connection makes it harder to search for the information we need.”

Currently, Taylor’s is the only university to fully integrate the Bloomberg Certificate into it’s business curriculum.

Malaysia’s first Bachelor of Performing Arts Conservatory Degree at TU By: ONG YI LYN SUBANG JAYA: Malaysia’s first Bachelor of Performing Arts Conservatory degree has officially started this August semester.

The programme is a result of the signing of a much-anticipated Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between Taylor’s University and The Actors Studio March last year, with the aim of co-creating and establishing a world-class performing arts education here in Malaysia.

It is offered under the School of Liberal Arts, with five students currently registered for the first intake.

The programme is jointly led

by Joe Hasham OAM, Adjunct Professor and Programme Artistic Director, Dato’ Dr. Faridah Merican, Adjunct Professor and Programme Development Director, and Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Shafiee who is the Programme Director.

Joe and Faridah are both cofounders of The Actors Studio and leading figureheads of the local theatre industry, while Dr. Sayyid is an accomplished musician with a doctorate in composition from the renowned Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in England.

The modules in the Bachelor of Performing Arts (Honours) programme will range from Stage Costume, Scenography, Devising Performance Text and more, and is

Dato’ Dr. Faridah Merican and Joe Hasham OAM are the co-founders of The Actors Studio, celebrating their 30th anniversary on 15 April (Photo credit: The Actors Studio) taught within the flexible learning spaces of Taylor’s University’s Lakeside Campus in Subang Jaya, as well as at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) in Sentul.

Students of the programme are given the opportunity to choose between two tracks available: Performance or Technical Theatre.

Additionally, the undergraduate students will also fall under the new Taylor’s Curriculum Framework (TCF), which was launched in March 2018 and allows them to select either a Minor or Extension in other areas such as Public Relations, Creative Media Design, Psychology and more.

Feedback on the programme has been positive so far, and the

students are finding themselves fully immersed and engaged in their learning experience.

Charity Yong, one of the students enrolled in the programme, is eager to build a good foundation and disciplinary practice, and have endless opportunities to network with people in the same industry.

“I often find myself challenged and contented with the work we do in classes. I’m also really excited to see where we go as a group and how far we are going to push the boundaries of arts together,” she said.

Student Aiman Aiman hopes to gain a well-rounded knowledge on playwriting, as well as what it takes to direct a show and to develop his acting skills.

“It’s been taking a real minute to adjust to, but the topics researched in classes are keeping me interested for what’s to come,” he said.

In an article by The Daily Seni, Joe and Faridah shared that “artistes and art workers are the heart and soul of the industry and so, this is the single-most important investment that will ensure that the industry will continue to flourish in Malaysia as well as on the world stage.”

Besides Joe and Faridah, the teaching faculty includes numerous notable thespians from local performing arts industry, such as Mark Beau de Silva, Tung Jit Yang, Sandee Chew and Omar Ali.

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SEPTEMBER

4 NEWS

Don’t just survive, but thrive in university life By: LAVINIA KOH Transitions can either make you, or break you.

It is everyone’s dream to thrive, especially when transitioning from secondary to tertiary studies because that is when one’s life truly begins.

While this is particularly true, not everyone is able to cope with the pressure that comes with the drastic change.

And so, this is where iSurvived. co comes to the rescue! iSurvived.co is a daughter company of Asian Youth Ambassadors (AYA) whose belief is that youths should not just survive and strive during ‘the best time of their life’, but should thrive in life as well.

One of the main strategies of iSurvived.co is to reach out to youths by organising initiatives for the new intake students from campuses all around the Klang Valley.

“We offer tours around campuses, free meals, unplugged (performance) night, board games night, sports and a lot more!

The aim is to provide a platform for [the] new students to make friends and have a community to belong to,” explained Tan Yean Yu,

iSurvived.co volunteers [in yellow] bonding with a new group of students over ‘Ugly Doll’ at Board Games Night + Dinner in Taylor’s University. person-in-charge of iSurvived.co.

Through the various initiatives purposefully and intentionally planned, Tan longs to see new students thrive in their campuses and to give their best in whatever they are called to do.

These initiatives are carried out across various campuses such as Taylor’s University, UCSI University,

Inti International University, University Putra Malaysia and many more campuses in Subang Jaya, all the way to Nilai; you want it, they’ll do it.

In the most recent intake at Taylor’s University, iSurvived.co organised a line-up of activities for the new August intake students which included Board Games

Night + Dinner, Subang Tour and Captain Ball.

Cassy Kan, person-in-charge of Board Games Night + Dinner said, “I found not only a community but a family through iSurvived.

“When I first came to KL without family or friends, they were the ones who brought me out for meals and taught me how to adapt to my campus life.”

Kan hopes that the work of AYA will be able to make an impact among the students, and that one day, they may also volunteer to reach out to others like how their seniors once reached out to them.

AYA’s main priority is a commitment to raising leaders of admirable standards and excellence, believing that sound and solid leaders determine the overall health (spirit, mind and body) of a whole generation as it does a whole nation.

It is always a good time to be a part of something greater than ourselves.

If you are interested in being a part of the work that iSurvived. co is doing to make this campus a better place where nobody is a stranger, check them out on Facebook @ iSurvived.co.

Food benefits for Taylorians By: TEH SUE EE SUBANG JAYA: Taylor’s Alumni Relations Office has collaborated with the university’s alumni network to present food benefits for all students, staff, and alumni.

Well-established restaurants and food chains such as myBurgerLab, myPizzaLab, A Pie Thing, Sanoook, Chakri Palace, and Chakri MY are on the list of serving good food at great deals with rebates up to 15% off the total bill.

The food benefit promotion was set up as part of Taylor’s alumni membership benefits, and as a way for university alumni to give back to their alma mater.

“We work with retailers and also alumni, four out of the seven restaurants listed are actually owned by Taylor’s alumni,’’ said Joanna Kovilpillai, assistant manager at Taylor’s Alumni Relations and School Marketing.

“We want to give benefits to the alumni for using their membership card and being a part of the alumni network and encourage alumni to also give back to the

alumni community as well as the students and staff. By Taylorians, for Taylorians.”

A student, Christina Naidu, thinks that this promotion is mildly beneficial for Taylorians.

“I almost never eat at these places, and the discount isn’t enough to persuade me to go and eat there. But if I happen to be there, then I would use the discount,” she said.

Some Taylorians rejoiced at this announcement, hoping that the list of restaurants would increase in the near future.

Loh Kai Ming, former student of Foundation in Engineering with Taylor’s College, opines that “I hope Taylor’s offers more of these types of discounts, it’s so nice to hear that we can have a nice meal at a cheaper price just by flashing our student ID.” The food benefit was available since August 2018, for all Taylor’s staff, students, and alumni with valid IDs issued by Taylor’s University until 31 December 2019.

Participating food outlets of the food benefit programme, offers valid till 31st December 2019.

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SEPTEMBER

NEWS 5

Filling our knowledge cups with Dato’ Ambiga By: ONG YI LYN SUBANG JAYA: It was an intimate Friday afternoon filled with personal anecdotes by Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan during the 15th Fill-My-Cup series.

Organised by the Life Skills Development team of Taylor’s University on 13 September, the talk was attended by members of the team, lecturers as well as students from various schools such as Media and Communication, Biosciences and Business.

Held at the Postgraduate Lounge in Block C, the sharing session kicked off with an introduction by moderator Naveen Raman (MR) and was conducted in a casual question and answer format that allows for easy exchange of banter between Ambiga and participants of the talk.

Topics highlighted centered on Ambiga’s start in activism; how she navigated her role in politics, especially during the last General Election and as former chairman of Bersih 2.0; UNDI18; national environmental issues, perspectives on the current government and more.

The 15th Fill-My-Cup series with Dato’ Ambiga was open to anyone from TU (Photo credit: Divya Mariam Chandy).

According to Ambiga, “Freedom of speech is an important right and should not be curtailed”.

“For me, everything must be evidence based; don’t accept anything that is not evidence based,” she explained.

Ambiga left a parting message to all students as a reminder of their responsibilities to the nation.

She encouraged them to be more politically engaged by taking the first step of registering themselves to vote, and by finding out more about how the government is run so that they may help keep our government accountable for their actions.

For student Beatrice Lee of Taylor’s Business School, the highlights of Ambiga’s talk were

the “emphasis on leadership and how the youth must take more action’’.

“I felt like she helped us see another political perspective as she’s very experienced in the field,” she said.

Journalism lecturer Kalei Joethi Sahadevan who attended the talk thinks that the Fill-My-Cup series is a very good endeavour at Taylor’s University and is fully supportive of it.

“She [Ambiga] is inspired by youth who have taken up causes and fought for their future. I really think that this is the way a leader should think and not be repressed,” she added.

Ambiga is currently the Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists and practices as a senior counsel in a wide array of civil, commercial and corporate litigation matters.

She is also a renowned human rights advocate in Malaysia and has received numerous awards for her work in this field, notably the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, which is the highest decoration in France.

Taylor’s Cultural Art Performers (Tradisi) launches TrECS 2019 By: NIZAR FAIZUL SUBANG JAYA: It was a show of lights and sound, a perfect engagement of the human senses.

TrECS, a two-day event celebrating the various cultures of Malaysia and the world was held on 5 and 6 September.

TrECS, Tradisi Exhibition Cultural Showcase, is Taylor’s Cultural Art Performers’ (TRADISI) flagship event of the year, a successor to laTst year’s Cultural Night.

Spanning over two days, the highlight of the event was the cultural showcase.

“TrECS 2019 aims to promote cultural awareness. Culture brings everyone together,” said Project Manager, Chalani Ganeson of Taylor’s Business School.

A different approach was implemented this year and a perfect fusion of modern and traditional performances was upfront for display, an intentional move according to Chalani, in order to open up the event to a greater demographic.

Various performers were brought in from multiple

An impressive performance by Taylor’s Cultural Art Performers (TRADISI) during the opening of TrECS showcase institutions, including MSU’s Performing Arts Club, National Defence Malaysia’s Pusaka Hanafi, along with Universiti Teknologi Petronas Step Hopperz.

Taylor’s very own performers were from the K-gen Society, OG Freestylez from TUDC, and

Taylor’s Music Club.

“It was a wonderful night that brought a smile to my face, I appreciate the dedication, time and effort that was required to pull of such an event,” said 59-year-old Navanitha Chandran, parent of a student here.

“A momentous night, a perfect fusion of modern and traditional culture; I am at awe and definitely in love with the diversity,” said Fatima Hera Khan, an international student from Pakistan.

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SEPTEMBER

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16 amazing days under the Tuscan sun By: AHMED RASHEED SUBANG JAYA: Students from the Taylor’s University School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (SHTE) spent 16 days in Italy for an Italian gourmet tour to learn about Italian food and beverage heritage.

Students explored various parts of Tuscany and Northern Italy including Florence, Milan, Piedmont, Bologna, Rimini, San Marino and Pisa from 1 - 16 August, 2019, visiting various wineries, distilleries along with site visits for different cheeses, ham, balsamic vinegar production and appreciation.

According to the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, the objectives of the tour were to expose students to Italian aperitivos and dining culture, wine and food production and appreciation, teach authentic Italian cooking including pastas, bread, antipasti, etcetera.

Students were also introduced to Italian history and hospitality with tours of Milan, Florence, and the seaside and mountainous resorts of Rimini and San Marino.

Apart from the learning experiences students especially enjoyed hands-on cooking classes

The Taylor’s entourage who visited Italy posed for a group photo after an exciting day of truffle hunting. (Photo credit: Jasmine Chen) and a truffle hunting excursion where they went into the forest of Asti, Piedmont, running alongside the dogs and identifying the various Italian truffles used in their dishes.

“There is no better way to learn than when it is experiential,” said Jasmine Chen, lecturer at SHTE, who organised and accompanied the students on the trip.

“When you can see, touch, smell, you understand why it costs

so much, because of the hard work and passion that goes into producing it,” she said.

“When you hear stories of how the parmesan industry almost collapsed, you don’t understand the significance of it until you see it first hand.

“These are some of the things the students took away from the trip.”

The trip, which cost students a net RM10,500 for flights, accommodation, tours, activities

and food is the first trip to Italy.

The school hopes to make it an annual trip as Italy has proven to be more cost effective compared to other European destinations.

In 2020, the faculty will run similar trips to Italy and the United States, and advises interested students to research the destinations prior to departure, so that their eyes would be more open to the experience, rather than a one-way learning experience.

Naura Shares: Meaningful talks, inspiring individuals By: VIJAY GUNA SUBANG JAYA: Taylor’s University collaborated with Naura, the latest Muslim lifestyle channel providing Islamic-based programs with multiple speakers, to talk and share about their experiences in life as an inspiration for the audiences.

Every month, Naura Shares’ talk shows are carried out in multiple places such as The Gardens Theatre, Midvalley City, MMCineplex at E-curve and many more.

The speakers for this event included actress and host Yana Samsudin, artist and musician Lah Ahmad, actress Farhanna Qisminna and Youtuber and youth mentor Aiman Azlan.⁣ “If you struggle with overthinking, insecurities, and lack of confidence, come join this session and let’s overcome the negative thoughts together!” posted Naura Shares on their official Facebook page.

Aiman Azlan, the first speaker in the show said, “I understand that young people feel the urge

Yama Samsudin (Left) and Lah Ahmad (Right) In Naura Shares event. to want to do something big with their life.

“The one person whom you have control over is yourself.

“Embrace the unknown, and see what happens.

“You may think that I already have the confidence when I first posted my first video on my YouTube, but in reality, I had to go through a phase most of

you would have to go through when you want to try something new, the doubts,” he added.

Aiman mentioned that he hopes to be able to motivate youth who are willing to grow and break out of their comfortzone and be a good example to them.

Lah said, “Ever since I started my journey as an artist and musician, the three things that I

learned are love God, share love and kindness to everyone and have faith, be strong and never give up.”

Lah hopes to inspire everyone to always have faith in God and never give up no matter what.

“What you believe, you receive.”

Farhanna Qisminna, a young actress shared her piece of advice: “One message that I wanted to convey to every teenager out there who wishes to start their journey in the entertainment field or any field at all, is to put your passion as a priority to support yourself.

“Be respectful and humble at all times.

“Remember that.”

“I learned and managed to be a positive person, looking at every incident and taking it in a positive light,” said Farhanna.

Fatimah Haq, 23, who attended the event said, “This event taught me a lot of things and I am grateful to be able to see and meet the speakers in person as well as listen to their stories and advice.”

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SEPTEMBER

NEWS 7

Aspiring Filmmaker’s documentary about plastic pollutions wins special award By: TAYLOR WOO In August, KL Eco Film Festival KLEFF announced that Liza Miezejeski, a humanities, society and culture major exchange student, won the KLEFF special merit award for her documentary, A Broken System, which was filmed with three of her friends.

Fadly Bakhtiar, KLEFF’s festival director, presented the results alongside jury members Elina Jani of Malaysian Green Technology Corporation and Dr Chen Pelf Nyok of Turtle Conservation Society.

The documentary explores the plastic pollution crisis in Malaysia.

It mainly focuses on the effects after China stopped accepting plastic waste from countries such as the United States, Germany, France and Japan, which were sending it there to be “recycled”.

Meizejeski said the inspiration behind the documentary stems from her passion at a younger age.

“Since childhood, I have always been an advocate of the environment, but I grew up in a small town in the US where other than the occasional street and beach litter, I had never experienced the effects of pollution in such an in-your-face type of manner as I did when arriving in Malaysia.”

In light of winning the award, Leong Wai Kit, the lecturer who submitted their documentary to KLEFF, said, “It will be a part of their collection of academic development that illustrates what they’ve accomplished throughout their campus life in Taylor’s.”

“I really want to make documentaries for a career and the fact that the first film I ever directed was actually successful pretty well solidifies my choice.

“I’m hoping this can help me get a journalism internship and enroll in a masters program for documentary filmmaking,” added Miezejeski.

A Broken System (Photo credit: Liza Miezejeski)

TLDC creating a loving community with free dance training By: ZAHRA ALHADAD SUBANG JAYA: Live, dance, share.

That is the Taylor’s Lakeside Dance Club (TLDC) motto, and essentially what TLDC wishes to further promote with their dance training program.

Every Wednesday for the month of September, the club offers free dance training sessions from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.

There are three different parts to each class: stamina building, basic dance, and choreography.

Led and taught by the board of directors of the club, the training aims to help members and non-members alike to not only develop basic dance skills but to also foster bonds of friendships as well.

To president Sharon Cordelia, building a tight-knit community within the club is extremely important and she hopes that this year, TLDC will be able to achieve that.

“I realized that TLDC has a problem with the sustainability of members, even though it has always been a goal of the club to create lasting bonds.”

“We also hope this will help bring more recognition and

Vice president Cynthia leading the group of students during warm-up (Photo credit: Victor Leong Kar Yeong) awareness to our club’s existence overall,” added vice-president Cynthia Dewi Sarjono.

They note that there are very strong competitors in the dance clubs of other universities nearby such as Monash or Sunway University who dominate in terms of membership and popularity, and they aim to rival

these other clubs eventually.

They plan to eventually make the dance training program a regular feature for the club.

Ultimately, Sharon just hopes people can find a community within TLDC. “I don’t care if someone is a good dancer or not. All I want is for them to feel welcomed

in the club, like they have some sort of second family.”

The club regularly hosts paid weekly classes for various different dance genres.

Follow TLDC on Instagram @ tldanceclub for more information or contact Gebby (014-621-7607) or Matt (013-321-2971) for further enquiries.

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A badminton player’s life By: ANGELINE LOH SUBANG JAYA: Desiree Siow, a 21-year-old female national badminton player studying in Taylor’s University claims that playing badminton helps her to keep calm when she feels stressed.

In her recent tournament, the 1st Asian University Badminton Championship 2019 at Taipei, Taiwan, Desiree and her teammates represented Malaysia and won one silver and three bronze.

She trains from 8pm to 10pm on Monday through Friday to help further improve her excellent skills in badminton.

When there are competitions approaching, she would train twice as hard to ensure that she is well prepared.

When Desiree is not training, she enjoys watching movies with her teammates especially horror movies.

Desiree is currently in her final semester for Diploma of Mass Communication.

Even though she is an international badminton player and spent most of her time training, she tries her best to keep up with her studies by

studeying during the day when she does not need to attend class.

“I would bring my laptop with me to my tournaments to catch up with what I had missed in class that day,” Desiree said.

As a badminton player, Desiree is given many great opportunities, including the chance to meet new people from different countries.

It allows her to make new friends while going for her competitions.

However, there are times when she would stress out too.

“Sometimes I do feel stressed out, especially when I am representing Malaysia in these tournaments, because I’m not only representing myself, I’m representing my whole country,” Desiree said.

She also expresses that she gets upset when she loses a match in her tournaments, even if she has tried her hardest.

During these moments, she would take time to accept her failure before pulling herself up and training herself harder to win the next tournament.

Photo of Desiree in action. (Photo credit: Trung Ho)

Singing her way to the stars By: SAARAH ANIZ CHACHIA Yuveena Gunainthran is a 19-year-old singer from Alor Setar, Kedah and a Diploma student in Communication at Taylor’s University.

She balances both her singing career and university life with grace.

She began singing at a young age and instantly fell in love with it, having been inspired by her father.

He would often be the one to break out a tune when she was little and this influenced her most.

Only after her days in high school did she discover that singing was something she wanted to pursue as a career.

“I joined many competitions and also had my own band with my friends, I just really loved performing on stage and entertaining everyone,” she said.

An average day in university leaves her feeling both stressed and overworked.

However, she manages to find time for singing, either during her break times, through joining

L.I.V.E, an acapella group choir here at Taylor’s University, or any type of music club.

In 2018, Yuveena was given an incredible opportunity to be part of a Malaysian reality singing show called ‘Bintang RTM 2018’.

The show scouts for new talents across Malaysia and she had the privilege of making it to the top eight.

She hopes to pursue both her singing career and studies at the same time because she believes that having an education is as important as pursuing her dreams.

Currently, Yuveena has been signed to a record label called Plastic Entertainment and looks forward to releasing her very own single by the end of his year.

“One of my favorite performances that I have performed was for a Chinese reality show called ‘I Can See Your Voice’.

“I’d sung a Chinese song and the reaction from the crowd was

Yuveena at the ‘I can see your voice’ Chinese reality show (Photo credit: Yuveena) just overwhelming,” said Yuveena.

Yuveena has taken part in a few events like ‘TrECS’ which is Taylor’s Exhibition & Cultural Showcase on the 6 September

where she showcased her talent with a Chinese song for the student and faculty community.

It would be wise to keep an eye out for her.